Clarity
by Flamepaw
Summary: A collection of one-shots depicting the adventurous lives of Ben, Finn, Rey, and Poe as they adjust to their post-war lives. (Based on my ending described in my completed story 'The Trial of Ben Solo'.) Mostly Reylo. 1st story: Ben goes back to retrieve a personal item from a First Order ship and Rey isn't too pleased about it.


Welcome! This is where I will be posting one-shots about my current favorite ship (Reylo). Finn and Poe will also be making appearances because I love writing their voices. These-one shots are based on my version of how Rise of Skywalker should have ended, so if you haven't read it head over to my completed story "The Trial of Ben Solo' and read that first so you understand what is going on.

The story is named 'Clarity' after the Zedd's song Clarity (The acoustic version) because it gives me a lot of Reylo feels. I hope you enjoy!

* * *

Ben pulled her back again the wall as two laser blasts zoomed by them.

_Careful. _He scolded her.

Rey rolled her eyes at him. She hated how overprotective he was of her. He was always lecturing her about taking too many risks and not thinking things completely through.

_You know, I survived perfectly fine for several years without you._

_Well, forget me bring you back from the dead, the real miracle of the Force is that you didn't die any sooner._

She shot him a nasty look at him and then pushed past him, pulling a communicator out of her pocket. "How are we doing, Poe?"

"Finn's pants caught on fire, but other than great," Poe's voice echoed through the device. "BB-8 got the info. Meet back at the Falcon in ten."

"Got it."

They were on a secret mission to infiltrate the First Order's last function Star Dreadnought to get information about the high-ranking First Order generals who were trying to escape justice. They were taking great risk completing this task on their own, but it was worth it for a bit of excitement. Finn, Poe, and Rey have been absolutely bored out of their minds these last past few weeks, that a chance to get seriously hurt or killed was actually kind of a blessing. In turns out, running a government wasn't nearly as fun as fighting to save a government.

Ben and Rey turned the corner and was instantly met with a wall of First Order soldiers.

_Wrong-way! _Rey led Ben back the other way and around a corner as lasers blasted around them. _I don't think they remember you. _

_Oh, they do. That's why they are shooting._

Rey refused to show him any sign that she was amused. She activated her gold double-sided lightsaber and blocked two hits. Ben did the same with his purple blade.

_Come on. This way. _Rey started to run back the way they come when she noticed that Ben wasn't following her. He was just standing in the hallway looking in the other direction.

"Ben, come on," she called out to him.

"Rey," he said quietly. Nervous waves of energy pulsed from him within their bond. "There is something I need to do. I'm meet you back at the Falcon."

"No, you're not!" She exclaimed walking up to him. His voice made her nervous like he was going to do something dangerous or stupid or both. She tried searching their bond to figure out what he was up to, but he had blocked her. "Let's go."

"I need to get something," he stated firmly. He had that look on his face that Rey knew meant that he was not going to give in.

"Fine!" She stared at him stubbornly. "But I'm going with you."

Ben studied her carefully. Probably, weighing if he had enough time to argue with her before the soldiers caught up with them. "Alright, come on."

He led down a narrow hallway, but it wasn't until they turned the corner until Rey realize where they were headed. She had been here before.

Ben opened the door to his old living chambers and bolted inside. He immediately started searching the room.

It was only then Rey realized that when Ben came back with her that he came with only his clothes on his back. It never occurred to her that there was some material item that Ben missed and longed for. "What are you looking for?"

"I'll explain later. Just keep watch."

Rey looked around his meticulous white room and recalled the last time she was here. They had tried to kill each other, which wasn't a big deal. They used to try to kill each other a lot, but now they were a team, two that were one, and together they were unstoppable. "Everything is still here," she mused.

"They were probably too scared to move anything," Ben replied still searching.  
"Or they just didn't have the time. The Republic has have kept them pretty busy."

Rey watched as he searched his room with such urgency that it made her wonder what could be so important to Ben that he would risk them both getting caught.

"Found it!" Ben pulled out a small thick leather book out the top drawer. He tucked it into his belt before Rey had the chance to get a better look at it. "Let's go."

Ben lead their way back to the landing platform when the Millennium Falcon was already starting up. They ran up the loading ramp.

Bb-8 and D-0 beeped happily when they saw them.

"Good to see you too," Rey replied, but she didn't stop. She ran back to the cockpit and took her seat next to Poe.

"Where were you two? Did you stop for a snog?" Poe smirked at her while he drove the Falcon out of the platform.

Rey threw him an ugly look as she pushed the appropriate controls. The First Order's ship was too damaged to follow them, so it wasn't long before they were completely out of danger.

"Woot!" Finn cried joining them in the cockpit. "Tell me you don't miss that!"

"The almost dying part? No, I don't. The kicking the First Order's butt? Hell yes, I do," Poe replied.

"Just like old-time," Finn smiled patting Rey's shoulder before he sat down in the seat behind her. "Minus, you know, Sir Giggles." He nodded his head toward the cargo bay.

It was then Rey noticed that Ben did following her into the cockpit. There was usually a duel of anger stare downs to decide who got to pilot alongside her (Ben usually won), but this time Ben didn't even try to take Poe's seat. She called out to him with their bond and found him sitting quietly in the cargo bay looking over his book.

"I'm glad I finally got you two alone," Finn stated interrupting her thoughts. "There is something I want to run by you."

"Here we go," Poe mumbled under his breath just loud enough for Rey to hear him.

She exchanged an amused look with him.

"Hear me out." Finn slowly moved the palms his palms away from out each dramatically said, "General Storm."

No one in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon said a word.

"I don't get it," Poe remarked plainly.

"Come on! General – Storm -," Finn repeated excitedly. "As in Stormtrooper?"

"I still don't get it."

Finn sighed exhaustedly, "I'm tired of having no last name. All the people on the city planets care about it your name and get all weirded out when I say that I don't have one. So, Jannah and I were talking, and we think us, and the rest of reformed Stormtroopers should take up the last name Storm, like a badge of honor for what we went through."

"You don't need a last name, Finn," Poe reassurance him.

"According to the people on the Inner Planets, I do."

"I don't have a last name," Rey added.

"Yeah, well that's not going to be the case for much longer at the rate you two are going, Mrs. Solo," Finn returned.

Rey looked bashfully back down at the controls. She hated when Finn or Poe teased her and her and Ben's relationship. In her mind, it was none of their business.

"I want to meet someone without having to explain my whole life story to them. People don't respect Finn Nobody."

"People respect you Finn, but not because of a name but because of what you have done," Poe explained.

"Yeah, still," Finn mumbled. Rey could tell he was upset, and she understood why. She knew how it felt too long to have something everyone else took for granted.

"I think it's a great the idea," she smiled at him.

"Thank you, Rey. I greatly appreciate your support." He glanced angrily at Poe.

"Alright, fine," Poe sighed once he realized he was outnumbered. "But can you please consider a different name?"

"Nope, I've made up my mind. General Finn Storm it is."

"I'm not calling you that."

"_You _don't have to. Just the lower rank officers. And because I like still you two, you both can still call me Finn. "

"Oh really? That's really kind of you," Poe remarked sarcastically. He threw a _Can you believe this idiot? _look at Rey, but her mind was already back on Ben.

"Here, Finn. You fly the ship," she instructed him as she got up from her seat.

"What?" I don't know how…" he exclaimed.

"Come on, Buddy. I'll teach you." Rey threw a grateful look towards Poe before she made her way back to the cargo bay.

It was there where she found Ben sitting at the table reading the brown leather, he had retrieved from the First Order ship. It was a thick book with pages that have been warped and tinted yellow with time. It wasn't a published book. There was no title printed on the cover or the spine. In fact, the outside cover gave no sign to its contents inside.

"So, are you going to explain the book to me?" She asked him gently taking a seat across from him. Bb-8 and D-O rolled up next to her by her right side.

He looked up at her and studied her face carefully. "I'll tell you, but you can't freak out about it."

"Why did you have to go and say that?" She sighed. "You would only say that if there is something to freak about it, so now I'm freaked out."

"It's nothing," he tried to reassure her, but his words did not affect her.

He was making her very anxious now. "Ben, will you just please explain it to me."

"It's Anakin Skywalker's journal," he blurted without another paused.

Rey took a deep breath. She knew that she need to give Ben a chance to explain himself, but he was right, her mind already starting to panic.

"You went back for Darth Vader's diary?" She asked him slowly.

" Technically, it's a journal and it strictly only covers the time before he became Darth Vader."

Rey wasn't sure if that made matters any better. Originally, she had thought he had gone back for something that reminded him of his family, his mother or father or Luke. She was disappointed that this the one thing Ben longed for so much that he took a risk to retrieved it. Rey thought he was past all of this. "Ben, why?" She asked him desperately.

He placed the book down onto the table and kept his eyes on it so that he didn't have to look at her. She knew he was upset that she wasn't taking this as well as he had hoped, but really what did he expect?

"This book was the only thing I had that I felt connect to when I was younger."

Rey frowned at his answer. "So, it's how to become an evil guide?"

"He wasn't evil," he sharply corrected her.

"He wasn't?"

"He redeemed himself," he stated flatly.

She sighed. She didn't want to deal with stubborn Ben right now. "For like five minutes before he died and even then, only to save his son's life. It's not like he regretted any of the horrible things he did. He's not like you."

"Do you think I was evil?" He looked up at her and stared into her eyes.

His question shocked her for a moment. "No, of course not. You were just lost," she answered honestly.

"Well, so was he. He just didn't get the chance to prove it."

Rey stared back at him and searched his mind for a reason for his actions. It was a tangled mess of emotions. "Ben, why did you go back for this?"

"I got it for us," Ben explained. "Leia and Luke expect us to redesign the Jedi Order so that it is both there is a balance between light and dark? Well, that was his goal too, at least it was at first."

"Where did you get?"

"I found it hidden in Luke's office when I was sent to train with him."

"What were you searching for in Luke's office?"

"The other students dared me to do it. It was my one sad attempt at fitting in. It didn't end well." Rey could feel the embarrassment radiated off of him, so she didn't push him.

"Reading it helped me through some difficult times…" Ben said softly.

"Like when you turned to Snoke and abandon the Jedi Order?" Rey sharply remarked.

Ben shook his head at her and pushed the book across the table. "Read it."

Rey looked back at him with a look at horror. "Why?"

"Because I want you to understand." He then added, "I need you to." His dark brown eyes pleaded with her from across the table.

Rey sighed again and back down at the book.

"It's not going to turn you to the dark side," he teased her gently.

"You promise?" Against her wishes, a small smile appeared on her face.

"Yes," he stated firmly.

"Alright," she reluctantly agreed. She could sense how badly Ben wanted her to understand. After everything thing he had given up for her, she felt it was the least she could do for him. She gently lifted the book off of the table. It was heavier than it looked. Rey wondered if that because of all the emotional weight it held.

"Thank you."

* * *

This is a two-shot. I will be posting the second half very soon, so please follow and review!

Have a wonderful day!


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